But permits are needed for cement, barbed wire, petrol and diesel. Heavy vehicles and tractors will also be allowed into Tiger areas without permits. As in the case of the Vanni, a harsh economic blockade of the Tiger-held areas had been in force for many years.
The checkpoint entries into LTTE areas at Paddiruppu, Chenkalady, Valaiyiravu near Batticaloa town, Karuthapalam, Kiran and Mankerni will be open from 6.00am to 10.00pm, for movement of civilians. The Army has also permitted fishing in the Batticaloa lagoon between 6.00am and 8.00pm.
After a police order in Batticaloa, the Tamil groups operating in the region handed over their weapons to the security forces in mid-January. The Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) and Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF - Varadarajaperumal Faction) were armed by the previous government to fight against the LTTE. But the groups have been accused of grave violations of human rights against the civilian population. The new UNF government had pledged that these groups would be disarmed.
The police Special Task Force (STF) imposed a ban on civilians entering the Kanjikudicharu area from 7 January. On the same day, the STF arrested 17 year-old Sangamapody Nithyarajah. Local MPs say the ban has severely affected a large number of families making a living on fishing and collecting firewood in the area. There is already a ban on rice cultivation in 3,000 acres of land.
Reports say that the STF have commandeered over 50 tractors belonging to farmers in Batticaloa and Amparai districts. In mid-January Batticaloa MP Joseph Pararajasingham complained to Economic Development minister Milinda Moragoda that the STF is harassing the people, particularly at checkpoints. A number of people had been assaulted by the STF at the checkpoint in Paddiruppu.
In Trincomalee District, the passenger ship City of Trinco began services on 21 January for the first time in 2002. The services had been suspended on 11 December. The ship left for Jaffna from the harbour carrying 414 passengers. Over 3,000 people are registered to travel to Jaffna. Further south in Muthur, the ICRC opened its office on the same day. The office was closed following an attack in September.